d900t chip specifics

Ok, I've moved onto a new project on my Clevo/Alienware Area-51. My previous project:

http://pat.erley.org/Other/P4EISTSSDT

Came to it's natural completion, with full CPU Support on my mainboard(Except maybe C1E). Now I've moved onto adding D900T support to coreboot (An open source bios), so a custom/hacked DSDT/SSDT is not necessary:

http://pat.erley.org/Other/D900TCoreboot

Does anyone have a dead D900T mobo they'd be willing to donate to the cause, or at least willing to get out a magnifying glass to help verify the details I've posted there so far? I don't want to crack my system open, for the time being.

it'd be much appreciated!

Any word? Anything from anyone?? Bueller? Bueller?

Haha, I've been scowering e-bay, but noone is selling a board cheap... I don't need a live one, dead is fine!

Yeah, I just posted a WTB on the D900T... I might have to crack my system open after all :-/

Well... noone has been able to help me locate these chips, so I'm going to be doing the big disassemble this friday... with pics!

Ok, I took it apart, ID'd the chips, cleaned er up, replaces thermal paste with AS5... and it booted after I reassembled it.

As far as the guide, here it is:


having taken apart my share of devices in my time, I'm going to go ahead and give this 0/10 stars for serviceability. It took me 3 bloody hours to complete this procedure, I had screws left over(even though I was careful, and documented where screws came from).

For a more in-depth guide:

You'll need:

* Small Phillips Screw driver
* Small (but less small) Phillips Screw driver
* Small Knife
* Thermal Paste
* Thermal Paste Cleaning Stuff (Alcohol works, I use the arctic silver cleaner stuff)
* Compressed Air
* Wild Turkey
* Rare Earth Magnet to attach to screwdrivers

Remove every screw you can see on the outside of the case, noting any that are unique/different. remove the front panel of the screen, now you can get to more screws that are under the screen. Now you realize you could have just removed the screen without taking the bezel off of it, do a shot of whiskey. Once you have the case apart, notice that you have to remove the GPU and CPU to get to the other side of the mobo, this includes removing a half dozen flat cables with the super sensative snap connectors. Have a shot of whiskey. Once you get it all apart, realize you can get to the EC by pulling the GPU and the heat shield that's below it. Have 2 shots of whiskey. Swear profusely. Begin reassembly. Complete assemble. Power on. If it works, have 2 shots of whiskey, if not, swear, have 1 shot of whiskey.

All said and done, it was a success, but not one of the ones you feel good about.

Will do, just pour it into an envelope, attach postage, and include self addressed stamped envelope for return of the 'shot glass' envelope.

I've updated http://pat.erley.org/Other/D900TCoreboot with a couple of interesting links on the topic of adding a dual bios. I've got a PLCC32 socket, some flash chips, and other goodys on the way, so I should be adding a second bios with a toggle soon.

On the coreboot support front, I've added socket support, and preliminary Mobo support (WAY short of working), as well as moved onto adding the northbridge. The NB looks like it's going to be the most difficult step for a while, as the southbridge is nearly identical to ich7, and those parts that aren't identical, aren't used in the D900T.

Maybe 6-8 months of work left.

Received my post card, and also got my flash chips and plcc socket. Now I'm trying to decide if I should just replace the current flash chip with a socket, or try to dual bios it.... hmmm.

Once I have it dual biosed(*1), and moded so I can see the post card with the keyboard in place(*2), I'll be able to flash a broken flash onto it, find out where it fails, and still recover without jumping through too many hoops.

This is basically required for porting coreboot to a new mobo.

1. Dual Bios, specifically, 2 chips with a toggle switch to control which one the mobo sees/uses. Then I boot the good one, flip the switch, flash the other one, reboot to test the flash, take notes via serial console and maybe pen/paper from the post card, power off, flip switch, reboot... ad nauseum.

2. The 'best' way to use a post card is via the pci (mini-pci in this case) bus. LPT post cards exist (I have one), but coreboot does not support them yet. The problem with this is, minipci is tough to see when the keyboard is in place. I'm modding a mini-pci post card to have a ribbon cable for the 7-Segment LED so I can have it sitting outside of the case during boot.